Casie Stewart’s true colours: our interview with an influential personality

Casie Stewart is certainly one of the most authentic people you’ll ever meet! An award-winning content creator, lifestyle blogger, and digital media expert, she helps brands tell their storytelling in an inspiring way. She works as an influencer, spokesperson, speaker, director, and consultant for some of theworld’s top brands.

I had the chance to sit down with Casie and speak with her about the ever-evolving digital landscape. How is it to work with brands? How can we stay authentic in today’s photo-shopped world? How can companies integrate social media into their communications and business strategies?

She gives us her thoughts and tips with the naturalness which characterizes her.

1. How did your adventure begin?

I started my blog in 2005 as a diary, documenting my life, adventures, experiences, thoughts and ideas. When I was in Australia for university I had a MSN Spaces diary that helped me share stories about what I was doing with friends and family back home. I moved to MySpace, then Blogger, to WordPress and now I have a fully hosted WordPress site of my own. I started a YouTube channel in 2006, joined Twitter in 2008, and Facebook right when it became available. And I’ve had Instagram for years!

 2. How have you maintained your authenticity over the years as the digital landscape changes?

You have to stay true to who you really are. Sometimes bloggers and influencers make themselves look a certain way and portray a life they don’t actually live. It’s hard to live up to those kind of standards you set for yourself and you’ll burn out if you’re not yourself. I’ve heard of younger people wanting to starting a blog or ‘be an influencer,’ but influencer isn’t something you can just decide to be; influence comes from DOING something that gets recognized or influences the ideas and thoughts of people. You can’t buy your way into being influential, establishing yourself as a brand or thought leader takes time.

For me, authenticity is more important than perfectly curated Instagram. I think the best way to be authentic is to be yourself and tell stories, to be a real human. One of my favourite ways to tell stories is going on adventures and exploring new things. I also only work on things that I like, have tested, or experienced first-hand. How can you share your honest opinion on something if you haven’t tried it?!

3. How can brands integrate social media in their marketing strategy?

Creating good and consistent content will go a long way. Social media can be overwhelming if you don’t have a plan. This doesn’t mean you should plan everything out for the next six months because things change, but it helps to be proactive vs reactive. Brands need to have an open mind and trust people who know what content works for their audience.

 4. What advice do you have for those that invest in one specific social platform?

I’ve seen a lot of apps come and go and I tell people not to put their eggs in one basket. For example, Snapchat was very popular until Instagram added Instagram stories, heaps of people stopped using Snapchat. I recommend having a website as place for your content to live that you own so you don’t rely on a platform that’s not yours. There’s always going to be something new, innovate or die!

 5. What are some common mistakes businesses make in influential marketing?

You can’t expect bloggers or influencers to write about your product or company just by sending a press. Life is about building relationships, reach out to an influencer or blogger and ask about how you can work together. Get to know them, read their blogs, look on social media, to see what they’re doing. Make sure you do your research to ensure the person is a good fit.

6. Who are some people in the social media space you admire or look up to?

Tiffany Pratt is a Canadian designer, stylist, author, and TV personality. She built her life around something she loves doing and I admire that. Casey Neistat is the world’s top YouTuber, filmmaker, and co-founder of multimedia company Beme, recently acquired by CNN. I love his videos and whole vibe. He’s living his life to the fullest and shares it with the world. Andrew Gunadie – aka ‘gunnarolla’ – is a YouTuber + music and video producer based in Toronto. His content is so fun and creative. He does a lot of brand partnerships, but everything is uniquely him. What I like about each of these people is they’ve taken something they love doing and made it into a career.

7. Favourite social media platform?

I love Twitter, always have. I’ve been using it since 2008 and it’s changed a ton but I find I still share there the most and have a lot of engagement. I also like Instagram stories because it’s instant. I love sharing things as they happen and I feel both Twitter and IG stories are great for that.

8. Which social network do you spend the most time on?

Hard to say, but according to my phone stats it’s a tie between IG and Facebook. Although, I check all my social platforms pretty frequently.

9. Which social media platform could you not live without?

LOL. I could live without all of them!

10. Favourite emoji?

Heart emoji!